Prafullachandra Bhagwati | |
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| 17th Chief Justice of India | |
| In office 12 July 1985 – 20 December 1986 | |
| Appointed by | Giani Zail Singh |
| Preceded by | Y. V. Chandrachud |
| Succeeded by | R. S. Pathak |
| Judge ofSupreme Court of India | |
| In office 17 July 1973 – 11 July 1985 | |
| Nominated by | A. N. Ray |
| Appointed by | V. V. Giri |
| 5th Chief Justice ofGujarat High Court | |
| In office 16 September 1967 – 17 July 1973 | |
| Nominated by | K. N. Wanchoo |
| Appointed by | Zakir Hussain |
| Preceded by | Nomanbhai Mahmedbhai Miabhoy |
| Succeeded by | B. J. Diwan |
| Judge ofGujarat High Court | |
| In office 21 July 1960 – 15 September 1967 | |
| Nominated by | B. P. Sinha |
| Appointed by | Rajendra Prasad |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati (1921-12-21)21 December 1921 |
| Died | 15 June 2017(2017-06-15) (aged 95) |
| Spouse | Prabhavati Shethji |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent |
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| Relatives | Jagdish Bhagwati (brother) Padma Desai (sister-in-law) Shardul S. Shroff (son-in-law) |
| Alma mater | Bombay University,Government Law College, Bombay |
Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati (21 December 1921 – 15 June 2017) was the 17thChief Justice of India, serving from 12 July 1985 until his retirement on 20 December 1986. He introduced the concepts ofpublic interest litigation andabsolute liability in India, and for this reason is held, along with JusticeV. R. Krishna Iyer, to be a pioneer ofjudicial activism in the country. He is the longest-served supreme court judge (including Chief Justice to tenure) in India.
P. N. Bhagwati was born inGujarat. His father was JusticeNatwarlal H. Bhagwati, a Supreme Court judge.[2] He was the elder brother of the economistJagdish Bhagwati and the neurosurgeon/president of theNeurological Society of India S. N. Bhagwati - father of economist Ketki Bhagwati.[3] He was married to Prabhavati (née Shethji) and the couple have three daughters, Parul, Pallavi, and Sonali.[4] Pallavi is currently the managing partner of leading Indian law firmShardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co and is married toShardul S. Shroff, the chairman of the same law firm. Bhagwati was a devotee of the popular Indian guruSathya Sai Baba, and was also a member of Sathya Sai Trust till his death.
Bhagwati received his education in Mumbai. He studied atElphinstone College, taking a Mathematics (Hons.) degree fromBombay University in 1941. In 1942, he courted arrest during theIndian Independence Movement and went underground for four months. He later received a law degree fromBombay University after studying atGovernment Law College, Bombay.[4]
Bhagwati began his career practicing at theBombay High Court.[4] In July 1960, he was appointed a judge of theGujarat High Court. In September 1967, he was appointed the Chief Justice of that court. On two occasions, he acted temporarily asGovernor of Gujarat (7 December 1967 to 25 December 1967 and 17 March 1973 to 3 April 1973).[5] In July 1973, he was appointed a Judge of theSupreme Court of India. In August 1985, he became Chief Justice of India. Over the course of his Supreme Court tenure, Bhagwati authored 342 judgments and sat on 820 benches.[6]
As a supreme court judge, Bhagwati introduced the concepts ofpublic interest litigation andabsolute liability to the Indian judicial system. He is therefore held, along with JusticeV. R. Krishna Iyer, to have pioneeredjudicial activism in the country.[7][8]
Chief Justice Bhagwati had an expansive view of the judicial role, saying in an interview that "I practically rewrote Part III and Part IV of the Constitution. I moulded the law. I still remember those days. It was a thrilling experience."[9]
In 2007 Bhagwati was awarded thePadma Vibhushan in public affairs, India's second highest civilian award.[10]
A controversial judgement of Bhagwati was in theADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla case (popularly referred to as theADM Jabalpur case or thehabeas corpus case) where he decreed that duringthe Emergency of 1975 to 1977, a person's right to not be unlawfully detained (i.e.habeas corpus) can be suspended. This judgement received a lot of criticism since it reduced the importance attached toFundamental Rights under theIndian Constitution. Going against the previous decision of High Courts, the bench which included Bhagwati concluded in favour of thethen Indira Gandhi government while only JusticeHans Raj Khanna was opposed to it. Bhagwati openly praised Indira Gandhi during the Emergency period, later criticized her whenJanata Party-led government was formed, and again backed Gandhi when she got re-elected to formgovernment in 1980. Bhagwati was criticized for these change of stands, favouring the ruling government, which were deemed as to have been taken to better his career prospects.[11] Bhagwati later in 2011 agreed with popular opinion that this judgement was short-sighted and "apologised".[12][11]
Maneka Gandhi was requested, through an official letter from the Regional Passport Officer, Delhi on 2 July 1977 to return her passport within seven days "in public interest" under section 10(3) ofThe Passports Act (1967). Gandhi, who had been issued Indian passport on 1 June 1976, in return asked the office to give a statement of reason in accordance with section 10(5) to which the office replied that "in the interest of general public" the Government had decided to not furnish any such statement further. UnderArticle 21 of theIndian Constitution, which deals with Right to Freedom, Gandhi filed a writ petition in which Bhagwati and JusticeV. R. Krishna Iyer ruled in favour of Gandhi.[13][14]
In 1982, Bhagwati was elected a fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences while being affiliated with theColumbia University.[15] He had been a member of theUnited Nations Human Rights Committee from 1995 to 2009, being re-elected after every two years on expiry of his term.[16] He was also chairman of the committee in 2001-03.[17] As of 2006[update], he had also served as a member of the Committee of Experts of theInternational Labour Organization for over 27 years.[18] He was appointed Chancellor ofSri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning on 6 May 2011.[19]
Justice Bhagwati died on 15 June 2017 at the age of 95 after a brief illness at his home inNew Delhi. His funeral was held on 17 June.[20] Prime MinisterNarendra Modi condoled his death, calling him "stalwart of India's legal fraternity".[21]
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